


My Brother's Keeper

by Yessica



Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [14]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Papyrus (Undertale) Knows More Than He Lets On, Papyrus (Undertale)-centric, Reader is Frisk (Undertale), Sans Had a Little Accident, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27030337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/pseuds/Yessica
Summary: Snowdin is a lovely little town with a very strange skeleton living in it who certainly, definitely doesn't have a brother.(Whumptober day 15 - Science gone wrong)
Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949233
Comments: 11
Kudos: 53
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	My Brother's Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guess what it's that AU I've had since like 2017 but never did anything with and didn't write a full fic for... but it makes a perfect whumptober entry so here's a oneshot!

You push open the stone doors with strenuous effort, putting all of your meager 9-year-old strength into it. Cold air rushes into the hallway to meet you and sends goosebumps across your arms despite the sweater. A heap of snow has built up against the doors, probably this is what made opening them so hard. You kick at it with a sneaker through the gap you created and finally manage to slip to the other side.

The sight that greets you is nothing like anything you've encountered in the Ruins. The ceiling looks way higher than before, so high your eyes can't quite catch the top of the cavern. Snow covers the ground and the endless mass of trees growing in this strange climate. Before you, there is a path leading off into the distance, blanketed by forest on both sides. It doesn't look like anybody has been here for a long time.

After pulling your sleeves down over your arms further - bracing against the cold - you set off. The eerie silence gives this setting an almost picturesque atmosphere, but so far your journey has taught you this peace could easily be an illusion. You might run into a monster at any moment. Finally, something dawns in the distance. You jog up to meet it and almost fall over a big branch just lying in the middle of the path. With a small hop you catch yourself, and make it to the structure you noticed earlier. It resembles an arch, made of wood and with big bars you can easily squeeze between. To the left, a quaint stall catches your attention.

It looks like the ones you used to see at the market in your hometown, where people would sell fruit and vegetables. You approach it and stand on your tiptoes to be able to see the other side. Nobody's there, though there are various bottles of condiments scattered on the ground and flat surface. A thin layer of dust has settled over the entire arrangement, giving it a profound sense of abandonment.

You bite your lip, unsure why the sight sends a shiver down your spine.

Before you have time to contemplate further, however, approaching footsteps pull you out of your daze. You spin around just in time to see a tall and intimidating figure coming from the other end of the path, and in a moment of supreme instinct, you jump behind the nearby lamp – conveniently shaped as the perfect hiding spot.

The footsteps come closer, then stop just a few feet away from you and the stall. You hold your breath, hoping they didn't notice but a ringing voice suddenly calls out.

"How should I know? You just hang around outside your station, Sans, what are you even doing?"

Your heart jumps in your chest, you clench your hands so tight it becomes painful. Of course they saw you, there's no way they didn't. You exhale slowly, trying to calm yourself down before you step out and reveal yourself and face all the things Toriel has warned you about.

Instead, the voice continues.

"No! I don't have time for that! What if a human comes through here? I want to be ready-" They cut off their sentence midway.

Encouraged by both your curiosity and the strangeness of the monster's voice, you decide to risk getting a peek at who (or _what_ ) they are. When you do, their side is turned towards you, allowing you to get a better look at their profile.

It's a skeleton. This realization is the first thing that fills your mind. Maybe that should frighten you a bit more than it does, but after meeting ghosts and spiders and that horrible talking flower, surprise is not even on your radar anymore. With amusement, you observe their weird armor-like outfit and the scarf they are wearing that billows behind them like a cape. They look pretty cool.

For a long moment, they stay silent, staring at the stall you were examining earlier. Then they stomp their foot empathically, as if frustrated. "I will capture a human, Sans! Stop saying that!" As they say it they start turning back towards you so you hide again, trying to calm your rapid heartbeat.

By now you had already concluded they are probably on the phone with somebody, though why they'd come all the way out here to do so is beyond you. Maybe the stall is theirs? But that does not explain why it looks so disused.

After a few more minutes of you listening in on the skeleton's one-sided conversation, they leave. You wait to make sure they are really gone before finally leaving your spot behind the lamp, shaking some of the fallen snow from your hair. With one last glance at the stall, you are on your way again.

You had assumed you wouldn't see them again for a while, but after a junction in the road, it's exactly that same skeleton who you run into. They're not talking on the phone anymore you notice but are using their gloved hands to gesticulate wildly, talking to somebody. Your eyes drift to the line of trees they are looking at, but you can't decipher the presence of anybody else in that endless darkness.

That same uncomfortable feeling you had earlier comes back tenfold, like a wave. You ignore it stubbornly.

Finally, they seem to notice you and turn towards you with a grin. Unlike all the other monsters you met, they don't look startled of you being here. "I hate to say it Sans," they say, leaving a small silence in between, "but I did tell you so."

Unbidden, you turn your head to the side. What remained of your apprehension has been washed away by confusion. You ask him what he told you.

They blink out of it then, frozen for just a second before they're smiling again. "Never mind!" they continue with all the false bravado of somebody who has never been wrong in their life. "Human, you shall not pass this area!" They indicate the ground on which you both stand, though you think it more likely they mean the forest at large. "I, The Great Papyrus, will stop you! I will then capture you! You will be delivered to the capital! Then... then..."

Pausing again, you patiently wait for the skeleton – Papyrus – to tell you what happens afterward. But they just keep staring at a spot over your shoulder. Turning your head, there is nothing but the path you came from and the indents your steps left in the snow. By the time you've turned around again, they're gone.

You frown, but follow the traces of their footprints into Snowdin proper. Papyrus does not appear again and you are unsure what they meant by capturing you. The only ones you meet are regular monsters and dog-like guards, both not posing much of a challenge for your persuasive ways and expertise petting. You try calling Toriel but for some reason, you can't reach her.

Just as you find the bridge that leads into town, a grip around your ankle stops you and you tumble face-first into the snow. You rub it away from your stinging eyes, until you can throw the culprit a foul glance for doing that to you in the first place. Flowey smirks back, pleased.

"Hey, don't be so testy," he says, that infuriating smile still on his face. "I'm actually here for a reason this time. It's important."

As much as you hate him, you couldn't deny Flowey knows more about the Underground than any other monster you have met. You sit up onto your knees and nod, indicating you are willing to hear his advice, though you are ready to take anything he says with a grain of salt.

"It's about the skeleton."

This does pique your interest even more and you crawl forward a bit, quickly looking around to make sure nobody is sneaking up on you. The possibility that this is a trap hasn't completely faded from your mind, but you are willing to take the chance. You tell Flowey about how you met Papyrus, and how strange they had been acting.

"Really..." Flowey says, laughing as if you made a joke. "Listen, he's a complete basket-case but he's not going to hurt you. So don't worry about him, just... that thing he does? Don't mention it to him. At all."

You bite your lip and ask him what he means.

"What are you, an idiot? The talking to thin air thing." You nod again. Flowey watches you, maybe he's thinking about something. You wait for him to figure out whatever he's gonna say, but he shakes the thought.

"You're not going to get on Papyrus' bad side, trust me. I don't think he has one to begin with-" Flowey trails of for a moment, and when he looks up at you, the expression on his face could send your blood running cold in your veins. "But mess with him and you'll get on mine."

The flower pops back under before you could formulate any kind of response. The wind feels a lot icier than it did before now. You get up, brushing the snow off your shorts, and start making your way into the town. It is cozy – the perfect image of winter charm – but all of it feels lost on you.

In a way, it feels _fake_.

Papyrus is still nowhere to be seen, so you make your way to the biggest building in town. It turns out to be some kind of bar and you idle at the door for a moment, wondering if they will throw you out due to your age. But nobody does.

You immediately go to the front and take an empty seat at the counter. The bartender is made of flames and lets out a crackling noise at you that you don't understand. You try speaking to them in turn, but they don't seem to get your sign language either. You sigh, because you were really looking forward to some hot food or a drink.

"Need some help with that, kid?" somebody asks as they take the crutch next to yours. It's one of the guards you met earlier, Doggo you remember his name was. "You're hungry, right?"

Smiling to show your appreciative of the gesture, you tell him what you want to get. Doggo relays your order to the bartender and you are surprised when a liberal helping of fries gets put down in front of your face mere seconds later.

"Don't let 'em grow cold, Kid," Doggo tells you, taking the dog treat he was either eating or smoking (you aren't quite sure which) out of his mouth. "You're gonna need the energy if you wanna make it through Waterfall."

This is the first you've heard of the area beyond Snowdin, so you eagerly ask Doggo to tell you more.

"You're gonna need to get past the captain herself. Undyne." He pronounces her name like a low growl. "She's in a worse mood than you'd think these days so-"

You ask Doggo what exactly Undyne is the captain of.

He barks out a laugh in response. "The royal guard, kid. Never heard of them?" When you shake your head in answer, he laughs again, but softer this time. "Papyrus didn't tell you?"

Shoving three fries into your mouth at the same time, you shrug. You relay to him your two short encounters with the skeleton, and doggo shakes his fur, like shaking off water.

"Ah, guess he's in a mood too then."

You have no idea what that means. But there is something else you wanted to ask about. Doggo visible bristles at the mention of that name, a full-body motion. "He's nobody," he says quickly.

But you have not come this far, climbed this mountain, survived both the ruins and the forest, to be brushed off so easily now. You are determined to find out who Sans is, so you ask again.

"Nobody," Doggo repeats lowly, throws a glance at the other patrons of the bar but they're all too engaged in their own conversations to pay any mind. "Look, kid, you seem nice so I'm gonna level with you here. But if this comes back to bite me in the behind later, I'll be pissed."

You promise Doggo you won't tell anybody else what he is about to tell you.

"When I say Sans is nobody, I mean it. Papyrus, when he came here... it's been so long it's hard to remember, but one could say he dropped clear out of the sky pretty much. Took up the big house at the edge of town. We thought he was living with his brother Sans at the time, he kept raving about him so much." He licks his jaw in one smooth motion. "But we never saw him and that's because there is no brother. There just isn't, okay."

Your brows furrow automatically. You ask Doggo if maybe Sans died.

"No, kid, that's not what I mean. There is no Sans, there never was. Papyrus might believe there is. But there is no trace of him to be found. And not for a lack of trying, because we did. Papyrus kept insisting we've met him, talked to him. Kept insisting this one here was his brother's best friend." Doggo points at the bartender, too busy cleaning glasses to notice.

Taking a sip of his drink, an amber liquid that probably has a high alcohol percentage going by the smell, meant a lull in Doggo's explanation. You mull over what he had already said but are unable to come to any conclusions.

You are even more confused than you already were before.

"He bothered a lot of people like that. People he was adamant knew his brother. At first, we tried to snap him out of it, even got the doc involved and everything, but he only got more erratic with her. Claimed she should know this Sans even more so than the others," Doggo continues. "We kept correcting him and every time he got more insistent, more angry and then-" Doggo bares his teeth as if he is remembering something deeply unpleasant. "Then he just got apathetic."

You weren't sure what that meant either, but something about the dog monster's expression makes you unable to inquire further.

"Anyway, these days we've just decided to let it go. Isn't worth it to aggravate him you know? We just go along with it," he finishes, taking another sip of his drink.

You want to say that isn't right. You want to say that's bad and wrong and weird, to leave somebody in their delusions like that. It couldn't be _healthy_.

But you are not in any place to say that, you think. So you just stay quiet instead.

* * *

You run into Papyrus as you're about to leave town. It's inexplicably misty, the ground covered with a vague vapor and it feels eerie and cold. You don't want to fight him.

"Let me tell you about some complex feelings, human!" And every line he says now feels rehearsed, forced in a way it shouldn't. The thought won't leave your mind.

So you ask him who Sans is.

Papyrus looks at you – at your hands. He looks to the side, an empty spot of snow and you don't know why it breaks you but it does.

It's not supposed to be like this.

"No, Sans, that's not very nice," Papyrus says to an empty spot of snow – to a brother that isn't there. It clenches inside your stomach, a tight pit of distress that unfurls into something vile and confining. You don't know why all of this feels amiss in your mind, but the harder you try to think about it the more your head hurts.

You ask Papyrus who Sans is again, more firmly and he looks at you as if he just saw a ghost.

His smile suddenly feels empty to you, plastered on his face where it doesn't belong. You know his sockets have always been hollow, but they didn't feel like it before – devoid of anything. "It doesn't matter," Papyrus says slowly. The cold detachment in how he says it too makes you sick. "Nothing matters."

He turns around and subconsciously you want to follow him. You can't help but feel like you just made a terrible mistake. He approaches the house Doggo mentioned he lived in. In front are two mailboxes, but both seem like they haven't gotten any mail in ages. Every fiber of your being is calling out to make right what you so obviously have broken.

Instead, Papyrus slams the door in your face.

You keep standing on the step for a moment, trembling in the freezing weather and unsure why you feel like crying. Then you turn around and continue your journey towards Waterfall.

* * *

( ︎♎︎□︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⬥︎♋︎■︎⧫︎ ⧫︎□︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⧫︎❒︎◆︎⧫︎♒︎📪︎ 🙵♓︎♎︎✍︎)

* * *

"You didn't need to be so hard on them, Papyrus," Sans says.

Papyrus ignores him, rips another screw from the metal exterior. He takes away the covering to reveal the labyrinth of wires running beneath, a rainbow of thin looping colors. Papyrus doesn't remember which one goes where, but he pulls at them to rearrange them erratically, hoping against better judgment something will spark this time.

But nothing happens. Nothing ever happens.

"I won't just go away because you're pretending I'm not here." Sans sits on the ground, the scientific papers Papyrus has long since given up on strewn around him. He tries to pick one up, but it fades through his fingers like liquid. "Are you going to listen to me?"

The machine didn't budge or make a sound, not a single sign of life. Papyrus presses the buttons over and over, pulls on any lever he can find, but it remains still and dead in every which way. He rubs both his hands down his skull, then looks at his brother. Sans is waning – form wrapped in unsteady rhythms. Papyrus knows it took him considerable effort to remain visible for such extended periods of time and part of him feels bad about that. "What is it, Sans?"

The image of his brother wavers, disappearing out of existence for a frail second before it reappears. "I need you to let this go."

"You know I can't do that."

"Papyrus, this has been going on for long enough. This kid has the last soul you guys need to get out of here. I want you to help them-"

Papyrus swings around to face him. "I don't _want_ to get out of here, I want to fix this damn machine."

Sans lowers his head. Papyrus knows he has hurt him with those words, has hurt him with his actions. There isn't anything he could do to make it up to him. The only thing he _could_ do is impossible to him – and isn't even something Sans wants in the first place.

Papyrus is being selfish.

"I'm sorry," he says. Sans doesn't respond, presence evaporated again. But Papyrus knows his brother can hear him, he always can. "I just _need_ to do this Sans. I need to make it right."

And maybe the fact that he'd rather die trying than condemn Sans to his state of unliving by himself forever didn't need to be spoken out loud.

**Author's Note:**

> [my Tumblr](http://sharada-n.tumblr.com/)


End file.
